Richard Froese
South Peace News
A limited number of hens and ducks, plus an unlimited number of dogs, will now be allowed in hamlets in Big Lakes County.

At its regular meeting April 26, council adopted its animal control bylaw to permit a maximum of four hens and four ducks on a residential lot in all the county’s hamlets.

“We added a definition for working dog which was requested at the previous meeting,” CAO Roy Brideau said.
“I believe these changes address concerns of council.”

Administration presented the bylaw for council to adopt at its meeting April 26, but Reeve Ken Matthews suggested that the bylaw include a definition and regulations for guard dogs and working dogs.

A working dog is a dog of suitable breed or training used to assist people in their daily work, such as a guard dog, service dog, rescue dog, herding dog, sled dog, tracking dog or police dog.

Provisions in the bylaw which apply to vicious dogs shall not apply to a working dog, solely by reason of any events or actions which occur while the dogs are engaged in work.

Chickens and ducks were added to the bylaw after the council initially discussed the issue at its regular meeting Dec. 14, 2016, after the county received a request from a Joussard resident to have chickens on his residential property.

Residents keeping hens and ducks on their residential property are required to follow regulations of the bylaw.

Birds shall be kept in a secured coop in proper sanitary and healthy conditions and follow biosecurity procedures recommended by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to reduce potential for breakout of disease and keep the birds for personal use only.

The animal control officer reports that dog complaints and problems are not generally associated with the number of dogs per household, said Pat Olansky, director of planning and development.

Instead, the majority of dog complaints have been with stray and/or abandoned dogs.